Bumgarner passes Lincecum on Giants’ wins list, dominates Mets

Share this:

San Francisco Giants’ Madison Bumgarner connects for a double to left field to drive in a run against the New York Mets during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Thursday, Aug. 23, 2018, in New York. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

NEW YORK–The last time Madison Bumgarner pitched at Citi Field, the Giants ace was so dominant that manager Bruce Bochy thought he’d ask Bumgarner to pitch a potential 10th inning if a 0-0 game remained tied.

Instead, a three-run ninth inning home run by Conor Gillaspie led the Giants to a 3-0 win in the 2016 National League Wildcard game and Bumgarner didn’t need to keep going.

In his return to the mound in New York Thursday, the stakes were much lower but Bumgarner was nearly as brilliant as he outdueled Mets ace Jacob deGrom in a 3-1 Giants win.

“Obviously you know the margin for error is pretty slim,” Bumgarner said of the matchup. “But besides that, you don’t have to turn into a different guy.”

Get San Francisco Giants news in your inbox. Sign up now for the free Giants HQ newsletter.

Bumgarner matched season-highs with eight innings and eight strikeouts while allowing just one run in an outing that lowered his ERA to 2.88.

A victory moved the Giants to 9.0 games back in the National League West with 33 games left to play.

After outlasting Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard in 2016, Bumgarner battled with deGrom in a highly anticipated affair Thursday. With a major-league best ERA and a legitimate Cy Young résumé, deGrom has been the toughest starter in baseball since the beginning of the season.

Unsurprisingly, Bumgarner didn’t back down.

“That’s what you need when you’re going against an elite pitcher like deGrom,” Bochy said. “You need your guy to step up and that’s a pretty good recipe. Eight innings, one run, knock in a run.”

Aside from allowing just five hits on 109 pitches, Bumgarner also brought home the second run of the game with a two-out RBI double off deGrom in the fourth inning. Though the power-hitting pitcher hasn’t launched a home run yet this season, his last three base hits have come against deGrom, Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke.

“I don’t know if I felt like I had a good chance to get him,” Bumgarner said. “But a swinging bat is a dangerous bat.”

Bumgarner earned his 109th career win and passed Tim Lincecum for third place on the all-time Giants’ wins list in the San Francisco era. The left-hander won’t catch leader Juan Marichal (238) but Bumgarner will have a realistic chance to take second place from Gaylord Perry (134) if he remains with the Giants beyond the 2019 season, which is when his contract is set to expire.

After opening the game with six shutout innings, Bumgarner allowed a solo home run to Mets third baseman Todd Frazier to open the seventh. The next two hitters reached base, but a 6-4-3 double play and strikeout helped Bumgarner preserve a 2-1 Giants lead.

Bumgarner averaged fewer than 15 pitches per inning, but a lengthy seventh inning prevented him from being able to go the distance against the Mets. With a two-run lead heading into the ninth, Bochy tabbed closer Will Smith who picked up his 11th save.

“He did his job,” Bochy said of Bumgarner. “He was getting up there pretty good, had a stressful seventh but we let him go back there in the eighth.”

The Giants scored their first run in the third inning after catcher Devin Mesoraco failed to glove a deGrom fastball and allowed a passed ball. Rookie Steven Duggar raced home from third base to push the Giants ahead, but the team didn’t do much more against deGrom who finished with 10 strikeouts in six innings.

Third baseman Evan Longoria extended the Giants lead to 3-1 in the seventh with his second home run of the series and 14th homer of the year. Longoria pulled into a three-way tie for the team lead in home runs with Andrew McCutchen and Brandon Belt, but the Giants remain the only team lacking a player with 15 homers this year.

The Bumgarner-deGrom battle salvaged an otherwise forgettable series in New York as the teams wound up splitting the four-game set. With a win Thursday, the Giants finished their final three-city road trip of the season at 4-6 and have just 12 away games remaining.

“I know the odds are slim,” Bumgarner said of the Giants’ playoff chances. “But there’s a reason we play the rest of the games and anything can happen.”

Though the Giants are far removed from Bumgarner’s heroic outing in the 2016 Wildcard Game, the left-hander proved Thursday why he’s still one of the most respected pitchers in the sport. While Bumgarner may not have a mid-90s fastball anymore, Bochy said he’s refined his secondary offerings and evolved in a way that can make him a valuable asset for years to come.

Kerry Crowley is a multimedia beat reporter covering the San Francisco Giants. He spent his early days throwing curveballs in San Francisco’s youth leagues before studying journalism at Arizona State University. Kerry has covered every level of baseball, from local preps to the Cape Cod League, and is now on a quest to determine which Major League city serves the best cheeseburger.